A Public Mugging: Fight Fans, as Usual, Take It on the Chin

You are listening to Mike Tyson, pugilist, in the aftermath of his fight last Saturday in Las Vegas.

Tyson is matched against an individual named Henry Tillman, so well-regarded the odds favoring Tyson are 1-30.

It is odds-on that Tyson knocks him out in the first round. No greater indignity can be laid on an underdog than such a betting proposition.

Tyson throws only one punch of consequence. It is a right, landing high on the head of Tillman, and that is the end of Tillman, who, as a fighter, had reached his end long ago, explaining his selection as Tyson’s opponent.

We are talking two minutes, 47 seconds, and, dutifully fleeced, consumers go home, where they belonged in the first place.

Instantly, on the strength of this momentous triumph, Tyson declares himself the No. 1 heavyweight of the world, and he takes a solemn vow he never again will be beaten.

What he means is, he never again will be beaten if he keeps fighting Henry Tillman.

Shame never has been the long suit of boxing. Rogues promoting it have milked it with mismatches almost fraudulent, skinning a gullible public hardly worthy of your compassion.

If the public wants to pay for counterfeit athletic events, you let it pay. Measures never have been taken to institute truth in advertising in boxing.

“You probably never gave Buster Douglas a chance, either,” the promoters tell you.

You respond, “Guys even guess under which walnut shell the pea reposes. It keeps them playing the shell game.”

Tyson began humble. Winning the title, he grew insufferable. Retaining the title, he remained insufferable, returning to humble after Douglas knocked him flat.

Now, winner of an exercise in which he is 1-2 to score a knockout in the first round, he recaptures his old confidence, and he is on his way to the insufferable state again.

The first half of the doubleheader the other night, a con artist’s dream, features George Foreman, one-time world champion, against someone billed as the heavyweight champion of South America, Adilson Rodrigues.

Not long ago, we ask Archie Moore, Foreman’s adviser, to define the territorial claim of Rodrigues, and Archie responds that inasmuch as Rodrigues is Brazilian, he must rule Brazil.

“I think he also rules as far north as the Orinoco,” Archie added, “and he has Peru and Ecuador, but I’m not sure he is recognized by the Indians of Bolivia.”

This is the foe of Foreman, 41, who comes to the fray at 263 pounds, or 10 pounds more than he weighed in his previous fight.

Since George is a heavyweight, he takes the position that his bulk is beside the point. Only baseball managers worry about weight. One he knows melts down to 180 from 218, whereas George begins at 218 and expands to 263.

Foreman feels he has done well. At one point, he weighed 315.

So, on the comeback trail, George wins 21 fights, against people not even known to TRW, and, asked to beat Adilson Rodrigues, he accommodates in the second round.

Summing up, we have one fight that lasts 2:37 and another that goes 5:53, and, licking their thumbs, the promoters count the revenues and announce there is no reason Tyson and Foreman shouldn’t share a program again, maybe in September.

But you sell a guy a car with a hidden charge, and they throw you in jail.

In a match appearing to be reasonably genuine, Buster Douglas is scheduled to fight Evander Holyfield for the heavyweight title in the fall.

But Mr. Don King, entrepreneur, has gone to court attempting to stop it, contending he has the call on Buster’s services as a provision of having given Buster the title shot in the first place.

In most locations, this is judged highly illegal--a scheme to keep title promotions from falling into the hands of others.

Not sure he is going to win this argument, King protects his flanks by trying to arrange for the Douglas-Holyfield winner to meet Tyson under the auspices, or part-auspices, of King.

And, to rebuild Tyson’s credibility, King arranges Henry Tillman as Mike’s opponent, and will arrange an opponent of similar stature for his next fight.

King suffered a bad break in Tokyo where, for the Tyson-Douglas match, two officials are local and one American.

Douglas knocks Tyson’s brains out for the first nine rounds. In the scoring, the American has Buster six points in front. But one local has Tyson in front and the other has the fight even.

What this means is, if Tyson can stay on his feet through 12, he is probably going to win. The knockout is the only hazard confronting King.

And damned if Buster doesn’t deliver it in the 10th.

Life isn’t fair, proof of which is, King now has to bring lawsuits, start the rebuilding of Tyson and dredge up opponents such as Henry Tillman.

You hope King and Mike succeed, because you always like to see nice guys get ahead.